BMJ Report Warns The Gates Foundation’s Foray Into “AI for Global Health” Will Produce Far More Harm Than Good

If you’re tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The Gates Foundation “AI initiative” is getting scrutinized, and criticized, from a variety of points of view. And now a trio of academics has offered their take on the controversial push into using AI to supposedly advance “global health.” What seems to have prompted this particular reaction – authored by researchers from University of Vermont, Oxford University, and University of Cape Town – was an announcement in early August. The Gates Foundation at that time let the world know that it was in for a new scheme, worth $5 million, set to bankroll 48 projects whose task was to implement AI large language models (LLM) “in low-income and middle-income countries to improve the livelihood and well-being of communities globally.” Every time – and it’s been many times now – that the Foundation chooses to present itself as the “benefactor” of “low or middle income countries” (i.e., undeveloped ones with little recourse to protect themselves from many things, including Bill Gates’ apparent “savior” complex) – it leaves observers critical of the organization and its founder’s “experiments” – and feeling somewhat, if not a lot, ill at ease. But feelings are one thing and scientific facts hopefully often another, and the paper, the gist of which is available in an article, asks the question: is the Gates Foundation trying to “leapfrog global health inequalities?” Well, as they would say in the American south – is a…BMJ Report Warns The Gates Foundation’s Foray Into “AI for Global Health” Will Produce Far More Harm Than Good